The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #137067   Message #3134087
Posted By: GUEST,MorwenEdhelwen1
12-Apr-11 - 10:10 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Brown Skin Girl- folksong from Grenada
Subject: RE: Origins: Brown Skin Girl- folksong from Grenada
Calypso history books including Calypso Calaloo: Early Carnival Music in Trinidad, and Caliban and the Yankees which i found on Google Books, state that "the original (of this song) was from Grenada", "taking off on a Grenadian folk song" one memoir states that Radio was "adapting an old theme", and one blog by a Grenadian woman describes her daughter singing the chorus, which she refers to as an "old-time folk song" . Another site also refers to "the folk version" of this song. There is no doubt in my mind that he wrote the 1946 version, and I have seen some sites which seem to be reliable on this being a common song in other repertoires. Which doesn't prove that he didn't write it. There is also another book on Google Books which lists a number of songs adapted by calypsonians which have roots in other islands. One is "Sly Mongoose (from Jamaica)" and another is "Brown Skin Girl (from the Grenadines)". He could have written it, but then he could have simply adapted an older song.